Dungeness crab season looks promising despite slow start

SANTA CRUZ -- Fishermen and officials are predicting a good Dungeness crab season based on previous years despite a slow start to the season for sport fishers Saturday.

Recreational crab fishers set traps on the season's first day and commercial fishers gauged the local productivity and continued to prepare for their season with a later opening date.

"I think it's going to be a good year," said Jim Rubin, who runs a sport fishing charter boat. "There's been a lot of crab the last few years. There's lots of bait for the crabs -- anchovies."

Rubin also uses sardines and squid to bait the traps, which he set near Davenport at depths of up to 200 feet. He said he expects about 30 crabs. In one hour, he caught eight crabs; however, that catch is not a good indicator for predicting the season said Greg Hill of Bay Side Marine, which provides local fishing reports.

"Today was kind of slow because of wind, and it's a little early to tell," Hill said. "People set their pots then fished, or they left and will check them tomorrow. Sport fishers used to be able to set their pots the night before the opener. You normally want a 24-hour soak."

Crabbers were not allowed to set their traps and nets before 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

However, Hill said the fact that last year commercial fishers caught crabs that were too short to keep and too soft or young indicates that this season should be good.

Dungeness crabs do well in northern and central California's cooler waters and are typically found on sandy or sand-mud bottoms at about 300 feet, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Hill said commercial fishers' range is from Moss Landing to the Farallon Islands.

"Crab populations are doing well across the state," said Pete Kalvass, a senior environmental scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We look at what has happened historically."

Last season's commercial catch was the highest on record since 1915, when it was 1.1 million pounds, Kalvass said. Based on the two previous seasons that had good catches, the department estimates this year will be similar.

"Fisheries are cyclic. We're at the top of the cycle last season," he said. "One would expect that we won't drop to the bottom. Even if we're on the downward tail of the cycle, we're expecting pretty good catches because of such high abundance."

The cycles are related to the productivity of the ocean. When the crab larvae are released in the spring and if the conditions -- nutrients and conducive currents -- are right, the larval survival rate is higher, he said.

Commercial crabbers look to the recreational catches for indications of what their season, which opens Nov. 15, may bring.

"Everyone is getting their pots," said Dan Obert, a commercial fisherman on the Sea Breeze. "We're out getting our gear ready, from putting rope, the buoys and the tanks on the boats, and talking with the sport crabbers to see how it's going."

Though the first morning of the season sport opener was slow, he said he is not worried.

"We've had good years, and it's going to be a slow decline," he said. "Just because there isn't any early in the season now doesn't mean there won't be any later.

He said the productivity will also help determine the cost of Dungeness crab.

"The talk is we're hoping for $3.50 to $3 a pound."

For the first time in California, regulators are limiting the number of pots, or traps, commercial crabbers can have. Oregon and Washington also have a trap limit.

Sport crabbers may keep a maximum of 10 Dungeness crabs per day, and the size limit is 5 3/4 inches measured across the shell. Regulations restrict party boats south of Mendocino County to six crabs that measure at least 6 inches across.

The Department of Fish and Wildlife was patrolling the Monterey Bay and Santa Cruz Harbor, inspecting boats and issuing tickets for violations.

"We've been checking boats on the water and that are coming back into the harbor," said Game Warden Ryan Keylock while measuring crabs at the harbor. "We're in all-out enforcement."

The department also cited those who set traps before the 12:01 a.m. opener.

"Because of the short soak period, it's difficult to know," Hill said, referring to the season's forecast. "The sport fishers are like test pots -- they'll let us know."